shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on May 1, 2015 10:44:18 GMT -5
Phoenix84 - for the most part, we can use our debit card and will. But we do a lot of shopping online, and I won't use debit cards for that. Fraudulent credit card charges are a pain. Having my bank account wiped out is a problem.
And in this case, there's also a timing issue. Credit cards are normally paid off with the paycheck I get on the 10th of each month (paycheck on the 25th goes to mortgage and bills). Current credit card bills included vacation expenses of $2,200 and a $1,750 car repair bill. Waiting to pay them until the 10th meant I could have cash flowed at least one of them completely. Paying the credit cards now means I need to transfer money out of savings to cover both (and there is designated money in savings for both). I'll put that money back in after the 10th, I'm just having to be more fiddly with my accounts than I'd like.
|
|
shanendoah
Senior Associate
Joined: Dec 18, 2010 19:44:48 GMT -5
Posts: 10,096
Mini-Profile Name Color: 0c3563
|
Post by shanendoah on May 1, 2015 16:43:11 GMT -5
So I have scheduled an overpayment to the card, via my bank account. It will go through Monday and take care of the car repair, the dog license, and the netflix bill that gets auto charged there. It's not enough to cover the cable bill though, but that shouldn't come through until after the 10th, so I'll schedule another payment then.
|
|
TheOtherMe
Distinguished Associate
Joined: Dec 24, 2010 14:40:52 GMT -5
Posts: 28,110
Mini-Profile Name Color: e619e6
|
Post by TheOtherMe on May 5, 2015 18:16:28 GMT -5
I will not use debit cards unless it is at a place where I can put my PIN on the key pad myself. I used a debit card for a $200 purchase once. It was taken out of my bank account 28 times! That caused a problem until the bank and the merchant straightened it out. I live on a pension and only get paid once a month. When the pension came in, it would have taken the entire pension. Thankfully I had a friend who was ready to loan me the money to pay my rent. I had no credit cards at that time. Only the one debit card. Never again will I use a debit card for a large purchase (I consider $200 large) or where I can input my PIN.
|
|
lurkyloo
Junior Associate
“Time means nothing now,” said Toad. “It is just the thing that happens between snacks.”
Joined: Jan 8, 2011 11:26:56 GMT -5
Posts: 6,066
|
Post by lurkyloo on May 5, 2015 19:52:18 GMT -5
As far as Amazon goes: go to your local Safeway, etc. and buy a few gift cards with your payment method of choice. Problem solved, plus you can pile up gas rewards that way if your store offers them. I feel your pain to some extent: I have a 17K balance due on my Amex from moving expenses and am expecting a reimbursement check of that magnitude but at this point I'm not betting on whether it'll arrive before the payment is due. I don't want to pay finance charges on any of it, and spending cash would deplete the checking account further and not be helpful. So I'm using my backup MC because I don't want to run into the finance charges on all purchases thing...but nearly everything I'm buying is groceries or gas and I'm giving up 5% cash back by not using the Amex
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 12, 2024 3:29:54 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 5, 2015 20:37:57 GMT -5
I've always found the credit algorithms confusing. It is good to have a few credit cards. It is not good to charge them up to their limits but it is also not good to have too much $$$ of open credit lines.
DH and I just got pre-approved for $100K more than we would ever intend to borrow. They sent us the report on our credit ratings and there were all kinds of factors they said were detrimental: too many recent pulls (we churned a bit last year to get sign-on bonuses), too many cards, too much credit line available. At least I had the sense to keep one of the oldest cards. I should also mention that we've spent about $15K on improvements and minor repairs to the house and it's all gone through the credit cards (for the cash back, of course!) and then gets paid from our HELOC at 2.75%.
And our scores hovered around 775. So maybe the fact that we always pay our credit cards on time and in full and pay the mortgage on the first of the month like clockwork were more important.
|
|
weltschmerz
Community Leader
Joined: Jul 25, 2011 13:37:39 GMT -5
Posts: 38,962
|
Post by weltschmerz on May 7, 2015 17:42:48 GMT -5
My son has his own business and is always getting large packages from China and Japan and Australia delivered here. Many are COD, and I don't always have money. He left me his credit card to pay Canada Post and UPS. I tell them straight up that this isn't my card and they're fine with it. I thought you couldn't use another person's card?
|
|